Automatically-operated stringed musical instrument



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. s. REED. AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. No. 558,419. Patented Apr. 14, 1896.

v x L WTNE55E5 WvEp/TU Q9 3% W /m WW ANDREW .GFZAPIAMv PNOTO-LITHOYWASNINGTO NDC.

q 2 Shets-Shet 2.

(No Model.)

W. S. REED. AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Patented Apr. 14', L896.

Fig. 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM S. REED, OF LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATICALLY-OPERATED STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,419, dated April 14;, 1896.

Application filed June 23, 1893- Serial No. 478,603. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, I/VILLIAM S. REED, of Leominster, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatically-Operated Stringed Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to stringed musical instruments equipped with means for playing the same automatically.

It is the purpose of the invention to provide improvements whereby the strings of musical instruments of the kind mentioned may be pneumaticallypicked to sound the notes, and whereby also, if need be, the strings may be depressed at the frets to change the notes sounded by the string picked.

To these ends the invention consists of the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings, and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view, partially in section, of what may for the purpose of this specification be considered a banjo equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a part ofv the neck of the instrument, showing my invention at this point. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the head of the instrument. Fig. a is a perspective view of a detail hereinafter more particularly referred to.

In the drawings, a is a frame of suitable character in which there are supported a plurality of bellows 1), adapted to be operated through the medium of pitman 0, having a crank or eccentric connection with a shaft d, which maybe rotated through the medium of a belt and pulleys from a shaft f, provided with a crank g or other operating means.

h designates air pipes or conduits communicating between the bellows b and a chamber 1', extending along the inner surface of a bar j. The bar j is adapted to be secured in place with its inner face in close proximity to a bar It, provided along its length with holes communicating, when permitted so to do, as

hereinafter explained, with the chamber i. Sufficient space is left between the bars 3' and k for a perforated music-sheet Z to pass, the said music-sheet being adapted to be wound upon a roll on the shaft f from a roll upon a shaft m therebelow.

1 n designates pipes leading from some of the holes in the bar is to small spring-closed bellows 0, arranged along the sides of the head p of the instrument to be played, whichlatter is supported at its head upon the frame a, and at the end of its neck (1 upon the upper end of a bracket '1', or otherwise held in suitable position.

'8 designates slide-bars suitably supported over the head p, and provided on their inner ends with pickers t, adapted as the bars 8 are reciprocated to pick the strings u, the said bars being connected at their outer ends with the bellows 0, as is clearly represented in Fig. 3. The pickers t are pivotally connected with the bars, as clearly shown in Fig. 3 at If, and each picker is formed in one side with an oblong groove 15 which is engaged by a fixed pin fastened to a suitable support. In the reciprocation of the bar which carries a picker the engagement of the oval groove and the fixed pin causes a movement of the picker toward and from the head. The effect is a curvilinear movement of the picker, which is necessary in order to properly pick the string.

A spring t is rigidly fastened at one end to an arm of the bar which extends over the head p, and at its outer end bears with sliding contact against the picker t, as indicated in Fig. 3, it being understood that there is a spring 75 for each picker 2?. In the normal position of the picker its hooked end projects over the string, and the spring 25 bears against the picker on the inner side of the pivot thereof. hen the sliding bar is moved by the action of the bellows, the hooked end of the picker is caused to move downward, partly under the string, by reason of the engagement of the fixed pin i in the groove 23 and the pressure of the spring 25 against the inner end of the picker. \Vhen the sliding bar reaches the limit of its movement, the spring 15 will bear against the other end of the picker on the other side of its pivot, and as the said sliding bar is returned the hooked end of the picker moves upward again and over the string to its first position by reason of the engagement of the fixed pin 75' in the groove t and the upward pressure of the spring on the outer side of the pivot.

o designates pipes leading from certain other holes in the bar to spring-closed bellows w arranged along the sides of the neck (1 of the instrument, from the lower part of each of which bellows there extends upward a bar or rod 50, provided at its upper end with an angular portion 11 extending over the neck, and provided on the inner end of such angular portion with a pendent finger .2, adapted when the bar or red :r is drawn down to be closed upon one of the strings and depress the same at the frets, substantially as is done by the fingers of a person in playing a similar instrument.

The operation of the invention may now be readily understood. Upon turning the crank g the shafts d and f will be rotated, the bellows b will be operated to fill the chamber 2' with air under pressure, and the perforated musicsheet Z will be drawn upward and wound upon the roll on the shaft from the roll upon the shaft m. As a perforation in the sheet comes opposite a hole in the bar 70 with which a pipe 72 communicates it will instantly inflate the bellows o, with which it connects, drawing back its connected slidebars and picking the string said bar is arranged to operate. The spring-closing of the bellows will return the picker and slide-bar to normal position. \Vhen a perforation in the music-sheet comes opposite a hole in the bar 7; with which a pipe "0 is connected, the bellows 10, with which the latter is also connected, will be instantly inflated and its connected bar or rod :0 will be drawn down, depressing its finger 2 upon its corresponding string, closing the latter upon a fret.

The bellows 10, like the bellows 0, may be spring closed, to raise the bars 00 and their fingers off the strings.

I do not confine myself to the precise means shown for filling the chamber 1' with air under pressure nor to the exact form of means for moving the perforated music-sheet, since these may be varied without departing from the nature or spirit of the invention.

It will be noted that the invention is well adapted to be operated by so-called nickelin-the-slot means, though it is obvious that it may be operated by hand, as shown, or by clock mechanism or other means.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed is- 1. The combination with a stringed musical instrument having a head and a fretted neck, of a series of slide-bars s movable transversely of the strings and provided with pickers 25, a plurality of bellows 0 supported at the sides of the head and each having its movable side connected with one of the bars 3, the bar 7; having a series of holes, a plurality of separate air-pipes n connecting some of the holes in the bar 70 with the bellows 0, and means for supplying air intermittently to the holes in the bar 7o, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a stringed musical instrument having a head and a fretted neck, of a series of slide-bars .9 supported in bearings attached to the head and movable across the strings, each of said bars having the picker t pivoted thereto and provided with an oblong groove 23*, a fixed pin t adapted to guide each of said pickers in a curvilinear direction as it is moved by its bars, a plurality of bellows 0 supported at the sides of the head and each having its movable side connected with one of the bars 3, the bar 70 having a series of holes, a plurality of separate air-pipes a connecting some of the holes in the bar 70 with the bellows 0, and means for supplying air intermittently to the holes in bar 70, substantially as described.

3. The combination,with a stringed musical instrument havinga head and a fretted neck, of a series of slide-bars s movable transversely of the strings at the head and provided with pickers t, a series of slide-bars cc movable toward and from the neck adjacent to the frets and provided with fingers z to depress the strings, a plurality of bellows 0 and 10, one for each of the bars 3 and w, for reciprocating them, the bar 70 having a series of holes, a plurality of separate air-pipes connecting some of the holes in the bar 70 with the bellows 0 and the other holes with the bellows w, and means for supplying air intermittently to the holes in the bar 70, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a stringed musical instrument having a head and a fretted neck, of a series of slide-bars s movable transversely of the strings at the head and provided with pickers t, a series of slide-bars x movable toward and from the neck adjacent to the frets and provided with fingers z to depress the strings, a plurality of bellows 0 and w, one for each of the bars 3 and m, for reciprocating them, the bar 70 having a series of holes, a plurality of separate air-pipes connecting some of the holes in the bar 70 with the bellows 0 and the other holes with the bellows w, the bar j having chamber t and adjacent to the bar 70 but having a passage for a perforated sheet between said bars, and the bellows b for supplying the chamber '5 with air under pressure, substantially as described.

5. A stringed musical instrument, comprising in its construction a plurality of reciprocating bars, pickers pivoted to the ends of said bars and each having a groove in one side, and a fixed hanger engaging the groove, substantially as described.

6. A stringed musical instrument, comprising in its construction a plurality of reciproeating bars, pickers pivoted to the ends of IIO said bars and each having a groove in one side, a fixed hanger engaging the groove, and a spring having sliding contact against the finger and arranged to press against the same alternately on opposite sides of the pivot, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses, this 22d day of March, A. D. 1893.

WILLIAM S. REED. Witnesses: v

ARTHUR W. CRossLEY, A. D. HARRISON. 

